Climate Change Rally To Be Held On Nov. 27

Greenrock is calling on people in Bermuda to attend  a climate change rally to be held on Friday, November 27, from 12.30pm to 1.00pm on the front lawn of City Hall.

A spokesperson said, “These climate change talks begin on November 30, and the people’s climate change march was due to be held on November 29th to encourage these talks to develop a new deal on limiting greenhouse gas emissions post-2020.

“Following the terrorist attacks in Paris on Friday, November 13th, the French Government cancelled the planned march in Paris citing security fears. Despite this, the organisers of the march are intending to proceed with the demonstration – expected to see over 200,000 people.

“While not everyone can attend Paris, we thought it was important to demonstrate our solidarity with Paris and the need to act now to mitigate climate change. To that effect, we are organising a rally from 12:30 to 1 pm at City Hall, on the front lawn.

“This is an opportunity for Bermuda to demonstrate both our solidarity for Paris in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks there and to demonstrate our support for action to mitigate climate change. Global climate change driven by greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions represents one of the great challenges of the 21st Century.

“Human-induced climate change has already seen a global warming of 1C since pre-industrial levels, and a recent analysis of the climate change action plans of 146 countries [accounting for 90% of all GHG emissions] indicates that they will only reduce global warming from a 5C increase in 2100 on a ‘business as usual’ approach, to 2.7-3C in 2100.

“While this is welcome, it is nowhere near enough, and still represents a catastrophic level of climate change…

“Greenrock believes that the world can do more to reduce the impact of climate change, and we believe Bermuda has a role to play in this too.

“Many residents may well be familiar with the saying ‘think global, act local’. This Friday, we ask that you think global, and act locally by joining us at City Hall to demonstrate your solidarity with those calling for urgent action on climate change.

“While Bermuda is small, and in terms of our contributions to global GHG emissions we are equally small, we are also at greater risk of the impacts of global climate change, be it in terms of rising sea levels, our dependence on imported foodstuffs, our dependence on catching rain water, our vulnerability to hurricanes or our reliance on coral reefs to protect us from wave erosion. Global climate change will have a negative impact on us on all of these.

“We may not be large contributors to global GHG emissions on an absolute level, but we are large per capita contributors and so have a responsibility to help lead the way in showing a low-GHG emission future. This rally is about demonstrating that belief and helping focus conversation on what Bermuda can, and should, be doing to reduce our GHG emissions.

“There will be representatives from the City of Hamilton, the Government and the Opposition giving short speeches on the issue, and a static demonstration of our solidarity.

“This Friday lunch hour, take some time to think global and act local.”

#ClimateChange #Greenrock

Category: All, Environment, News